


My Baby Walks So Slow

by noxelementalist



Category: Smallville
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 06:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15430662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noxelementalist/pseuds/noxelementalist
Summary: Imp: Aw, dude, please! I’m begging you! Hit that bulls-eye already!Or, the one where Clark makes a move and Oliver had better catch on.





	My Baby Walks So Slow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shopfront](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/gifts).



> Written for the 2018 Rare Male Slash Exchange for shopfront. I hope you enjoy it Shop!
> 
> Fic title inspired by [this awesome fanvid](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrh24Vbk-BU)

“I thought I might find you out here.”

Oliver startled, trying not to wince at the sound the wooden beam made as it scratched along his leather jacket when he turned around. “Yeah?” he asked Clark, watching as the other boy— _no, man,_ Oliver corrected himself, _he is an inch taller than you after all_ — strolled into the Kent family barn.

Clark nodded. “Not that I blame you,” he said as he walked over. “The scenery in here is way better to look at than watching Bart clean out my mom’s fridge.”

Oliver chuckled as he looked around at the Kent barn. In the evening light it mostly consisted of bales of hale and shadowy farm equipment lit only by a few hanging barn lanterns and moonlight. “That’s true,” he said at last as he looked at Clark, watching the other man smile as he sat onto a bale of hay.

In the moonlight Clark’s blue shirt almost seemed to glow, like some kind of bizarre UFO that would lift off any moment and show Oliver a chest that he knew from personal experience was solid and strong. It was a sight just short of breathtaking, and for a brief moment Oliver fidgeted where he stood, wondering if Clark was looking at him dressed in forest green and leather and denim, lounging along a wood beam in a dingy barn shadow, anywhere near as closely.

“So,” Clark said after a moment. “What’s on the great Oliver Queen’s mind?”

“A lot.”

“That’s specific.”

“It’s a long list Boy Scout,” Oliver replied, kicking at pieces of dusty straw on the barn floor. “You know us greats, always something on our minds.”

“Ugh, I still can’t believe that’s the name you saddled me with.” Clark grumbled, running his hands along the top of his jeans absently.

“Hey, you chose to work alone man.”

“Since when does that mean getting lame codename?”

“It’s not _that_ lame,” Oliver said soothingly. “Arthur chose it. He’s generally got a pretty good head for that sort of thing.”

“Of course he did,” Clark said, rolling his eyes. “I mean, it sounds like something he and Lois would’ve made up. Come to think of it I’m pretty sure he _has_ heard Lois call me that before.”

“Her personal nickname then for you, huh?”

“She wishes, but- hey you okay?”

 _Oh no, he’s concerned_. “Really, I’m awesome,” Oliver said more firmly, smiling at Clark, the other man frowning back at him concernedly. “I’m just trying to figure out how to get the plane loaded for us to fly out tomorrow.”

Clark glared. “’Figuring out how to load a plane?’ That’s really the best you could got?”

“At what?”

“At not answering the question,” Clark said.

Oliver shrugged. “I thought that was pretty decent actually.”

“Oliver, I’m a horrible liar, and even I know that was bad.”

Oliver sighed. “It’s not a big deal,” he said. “I’ve got it all handled, I swear.”

“How about letting me decide that huh?” Clark replied, cross his arms.

“You gonna let this go?”

“Nope,” Clark said, shuffling back on the bale. “I’m all ears.”

“Fine,” Oliver replied. “Lois and I may have- did, did break up earlier today.”

Clark blinked. “You…what?” he asked, letting his arms fall absentmindedly.

“I was getting the plane ready to fly out, but then I saw her packing a suitcase, and that’s when I remembered that I owed her one trip to Monte Carlo,” Oliver admitted. “And that’s when it just _hit_ me, that there’s no way I can be Green Arrow and date her, and I figured, this is probably a sign, right?”

“Oliver…”

“And we broke up. I dumped her and broke her heart. Lois kissed me goodbye and broke mine,” Oliver continued, looking down at the barn floor. “It’s… not fair, really, but it isn’t fair to involve her in all this, so I guess it all balances out in the end.”

“Doesn’t make it less sucky.

“No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

“No, _really_ , it doesn’t,” Clark insisted. “I’ve been there before. A lot.”

“Lana?”

Clark nodded. “Not just her,” he said. “But…definitely her.”

Oliver sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it, being alone.”

“You don’t have to be alone.”

“Don’t I?” Oliver asked him.

“You’re not alone right now?” Clark pointed out. “You’ve got your Arthur, and Victor, and Bart. You’ve got plane full of supplies to keep you globe-hopping and butt-kicking for days. You’ve got—”

“A teenager, three twentysomethings, and a plane wouldn’t be the kind of fun I was hoping to have swimming around in a hot tub in a private resort in Monte Carlo Clark.”

Clark snorted. “Probably not,” he said, running a hand across the back of his neck. “Arthur alone would probably make you regret that.”

 _I wonder if I could take you?_ Oliver thought to himself, glancing over Clark.

“I don’t think that’d be such a great idea,” Clark said, causing Oliver to realize he’d spoken his thought aloud. “Not that I wouldn’t want to! I bet we’d do all _kinds_ of fun things if I was there—”

“Clark, that’s—”

“It’s just I had a bit of a gambling problem my senior year in high school, and then there was that one trip to Miami—”

“Miami?”

Clark flushed. “Bart and I may have gone clubbing?”

“A gambler and a party-boy!” Oliver teased. “Look at you, being all naughty and everything. Tell me, you leave a lot of broken hearts behind in the Magic City?”

“What? No!”

“You did, didn’t you?”

“…Bart’s the one who got her- their numbers,” Clark muttered.

“ _You wingmaned Impulse?_ ”

“I was 18, he was 16. It was totally legal!” Clark insisted as Oliver laughed at him.

“I believe you,” Oliver said, grinning as he pushed off the beam he had been resting against to step closer towards Clark. “Course now I really want to take you out sometime. See what the great Clark Kent looks like after he’s had some liquid courage.”

“I’d be down for that,” Clark said hurriedly, getting up from the bale of hay. “Know any good places in Metropolis? There aren’t any in Smallville, trust me.”

“I know all the places in Metropolis,” Oliver told him. “Maxwell’s, Roulette, Club Atlantis—“

“Not Atlantis.”

“Not a fan of going under the sea? Arthur will be mad.”

“More like I spent way too much time there when I turned 16,” Clark said in a tone that made Oliver wonder just how _much_ of a partier teenage Clark Kent had been. “And I really doubt Arthur’s gonna be upset by my taste in nightclubs.”

“Yeah?”

“You mean you didn’t see how he kept eying Victor like prey all dinner long?”

“Oh I noticed that. Believe me, I’m losing patience with the ‘I swim better naked’ line myself,” Oliver told him as Clark laughed. “Seriously, I’m this close to dry-docking him.”

Clark hummed thoughtfully, rocking on his feet. “I don’t think I’d want to see that either,” he said at last. “Though it’s nice to hear Victor’s up for getting over Katherine so fast.”

“So no skinny dipping off the coast of Miami,” Oliver said.

“Not with Arthur in the water at least,” Clark replied, looking pointedly at Oliver. “In fact, if it wasn’t so cold out right now I wouldn’t mind taking a, ah, ‘dip’ into Crater Lake with someone. I’ve been told I wear wet well.”

“Why Mister Kent,” Oliver said coyly, taking a few steps to stand next to Clark. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”

Clark looked him over appreciatively and leaned against Oliver’s chest, the gesture causing his shirt to brush against Oliver’s jacket. “Is it working?” he whispered into Oliver’s ear.

“It—” Oliver began, only to be cut off when his cellphone vibrated, the quivering rippling across Oliver’s front jean pocket.

Clark sighed. “You better answer that,” he said as he stepped back from Oliver and started to turn back towards the house.

“No, wait,” Oliver said hurriedly. “Just give me, like, 5 minutes.”

Clark stopped. “You sure?”

“Yes,” Oliver said decisively. “Whatever’s happening here, I’m not done with you yet, Kent.”

“Alright, I can wait,” Clark replied smirking, leaning back against a nearby wooden post.

 _This had better be good_ Oliver thought as he took his cellphone out and glanced at the screen.

 

**Imp: We’re cleaning porcelain here. You done helping Boy Scout get his Mammal Studying and Farm Mechanics badges?**

_GA: What the-no, we’re just talking Impulse._

**Imp: Aw, dude, please! I’m begging you! Hit that bulls-eye already!**

_GA: WHAT._

**Imp: Seriously, I had to deal with Merman and Robo-boy figuring this out all night at dinner, I’m not taking it from you all. The level of UST is unbearable.**

 

“Must be pretty important if you’re getting replies that fast,” Clark said.

“It’s just Bart,” Oliver said as he typed _What does UST mean?_ back. “You know he doesn’t do slow that great.”

“He’s probably just killing time while doing dishes,” Clark said. “Not like he isn’t responsible for a full rack of them anyway.

 

**Imp: Unrequited Sexual Tension. As in, That thing that happens whenever you and Boy Scout are chatting and eyeing each other up like you wanna take turns riding that bicycle.**

_GA: ???? that’s not a thing Imp._

 

“No, it’s not that,” Oliver said. “He just, ah.”

 

**Imp: YES IT IS OLLIE. NOW GO FORTH AND MAKE US PROUD. I HAVE FAITH IN YOU.**

 

“Okay, now I’m curious,” Clark said, walking over and glancing down at the screen before Oliver could hide it.

“Wait—”

“Huh,” Clark simply as he read over Oliver’s shoulder, close enough for Oliver to smell a hint of the other man’s deodorant. “Good to know that Bart and the rest of the guys are okay with me doing the whole seducing you thing.”

“Ah—”

“At least, enough to want you to accept.”

“Apparently?” Oliver managed to say. “We’ve never actually discussed how this kind of thing is going to work. Come to think of it, I should probably fix that once we’re in the air before we fly too far out of country.”

“But are you?”

“Am I what?” Oliver asked.

“Okay with this?” Clark said, gesturing between them. “With me asking, you know—”

“I okay with the asking, but dude, we’re both single and on the rebound,” Oliver said. “This will end horribly.”

“Or amazingly,” Clark pointed out. “But I won’t press you into it if that’s how you feel.”

Oliver looked carefully at the other man. “Were you exposed to some kind of bizarre kryptonite gas before I got to you in that warehouse?” he asked at last. “Because don’t get me wrong, but this _does_ feel pretty strong for you.”

Clark shook his head. “No kryptonite gas,” he said, sounding amused. “Just…timing.”

“Timing?”

“Look, when I first met you, you were already dating Lois—”

“Clark—”

“—and you’re about to go on an international hunt against Level 33.1—”

“Which you could join us on.”

“Which I can’t, obviously, since Lexcorp’s involved and that’s based here,” Clark continued. “But the point is, it’s either I ask now or probably never get the chance to, and I refuse to take never, so I’m striking while the iron’s hot and all that.”

Oliver blinked. “Wow. So that’s the famous Kent charm I’ve heard so much about.”

Clark smiled. “Hard and obvious as a Mack Track.

“It’s strangely compelling in its honesty.”

“It does get the job done,” Clark admitted. “So?”

“So?”

“Is rebounding your only concern?”

“No, that’s-that’s really not a concern as much as a fact.”

Clark rolled his eyes. “Okay, then, what do you say to rebounding with me?”

“I dunno,” Oliver said. “First time I’ve gotten the offer, may need a while to think about it.”

Clark groaned. “Come on, Oliver, what, you think you’re gonna find someone better than me out there?” he asked, throwing his hands up in the air. “Not a lot of us strong and fit superheroes you know.”

“Pretty sure you’re more of a dude in distress,” Oliver replied, “seeing as how I just saved your farmer’s bacon from security personnel. And I’m about to fly on a plane with three strong and fit superheroes.”

“Two of those heroes want to dig into each other way more than with you, I don’t even _know_ how you’re calling Bart strong or fit and he’s still way more into Chloe, but fine.” Clark said, reaching out to pull Oliver against him. “If I’m a dude in distress, then at least let me give you a proper hero’s welcome as a sign of my appreciation.”

Oliver resisted the urge to snuggle closer against Clark. “You call one-arm bear hugging me in a barn a hero’s welcome?” he whispered into Clark’s ear. ‘Cause I’m not really feeling the appreciation here.”

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll be feeling it soon enough,” Clark said, hugging Oliver tightly as he tilted his head down a bare inch to kiss him.

 _Well damn_ , Oliver thought absently, the feeling of Clark’s mouth pressing and nipping against his feeling so overwhelming that he barely registered the sensation of Clark’s hands travelling gently down his back and coming to grip possessively against the seat of his jeans. _He’s…really good at this. Lois was right about that too._

“Now, I’m gonna ask one more time?” Clark whispered huskily, running his mouth down the side of Oliver’s neck. “You in? Cause I am. I really, really am.”

“Oh I’m in,” Oliver gasped back as Clark groped him. “So very in.”

“Perfect,” Clark murmured as he slowly walked Oliver back to push him back against the wooden beam he had been standing next to. “’Cause I’ve got plans.”

“You prepared for this huh?” Oliver asked, watching as Clark shucked off his t-shirt, the fabric idly descending to the ground while the barn-light started to glisten goldenly across his skin. “Guess you really are a Boy Scout.”

“Take that leather jacket off and I’ll show you how much of a Boy Scout I’m not,” Clark said as he ground against Oliver, his hands pushing Oliver’s shirt off.

“Deal,” Oliver managed to breathe out, shouldering off his jacket.

He didn’t notice it hit the floor, but then again, it was hard to concentrate on anything else besides Clark’s skin on his.

And that was more than okay with either of them.


End file.
